Take a look around the cubicles at Asustek headquarters and you’ll see nary a March Madness bracket worksheet in sight. No, the good folks at Asus are making a much bigger, bolder bet. A bet that will shock and amaze all who dare to entertain the thought of — wait for it — an Eee loaded with XP outselling an Eee loaded with Linux.

Dun-dun-DUUUUN!!! And with that, I’ve tried my best to make an entertaining and provocative post out of relatively dry information. The delicious caramelized onions of the story include the following factoids; first, Asus says that the XP version will outsell the Linux version by a 6 to 4 ratio. I’m pretty sure they could have just made that a 2 to 3 3 to 2 ratio but hey, tomorrow’s Friday.

Second, the Windows version will cost around $408 or $473 depending upon which of the two models you choose. The Surf XP will have a 650MHz processor and the 4G XP will have a 900MHz processor, plus an integrated webcam and about 45 minutes more battery life. Both will come with 512GB of RAM and a 4GB hard drive, according to IDG News Service. I’m surprised that the more expensive one wouldn’t have a full gigabyte of RAM and I’d think that the costs here in the US (the $408 and $473 figures are calculated against Taiwanese dollars) would maybe be $399 and $499.

The launch date for these devices was supposed to be sometime in February or March, so they should be here soon. The 8GB version with the 9-inch screen running XP is apparently launching in April though, according to Brighthand, so I’d probably hold off until then. It’s supposed to come out at around $500, which would make purchasing the 4GB 7-inch model kinda silly whether it’s $473 or $499 or whatever.

Windows Eee PC Will Outsell Linux Version, Says Asus [PC World]